FACES of Louisville: Brooke Vaughn

Brooke Vaughn is the FACE behind Please & Thank You, a combination coffee shop, restaurant and music store located in NuLu on Market Street. This coffee shop owner only drinks a few sips of coffee a day, focusing instead on her main passion: cooking, baking to be specific. One taste of her chocolate chip cookies and you know why.

What do you do for a living?

I hustle legal stimulants and sell vinyl records.

Do you drink coffee all day?

No, but my husband does. I drink maybe a 1/2 cup of coffee a day, but I pour myself at least 3 cups. I’m pretty wasteful with it. I drink ice water allllll day.

When did you discover that you have a talent for baking?

I’m actually not sure that I have a talent for baking. I’ve always had a strong will, a fair amount of ambition and high standards. I feel like I can do a good job at anything I feel passionate about. And I feel stupidly passionate about chocolate chip cookies.

What is your specialty in the kitchen?

Chocolate Chip Cookies, DUH!

What do you take in your coffee?

I drink it black.

Where is your favorite cup of coffee other than P&TY?

What is your special talent?

How do you balance your job and your personal life?

Oh, I’m spoiled. My life balance and sanity is completely a nod to my husband, Jason Pierce. There is nothing he can’t and won’t do. He’s the most incredible human I’ve yet to meet. He is the breakfast maker, the champagne pourer, the flower giver, the dish washer, the dog walker, the bread winner, the listener, the navigator and on and on. And it’s not like he’s a stay-at-home Dad; he also owns and operates his own design firm, Mperfect Design. We are equal parts. And we are super creative together, even 10 years deep into this affair.

What is the biggest life lesson you have ever learned?

Let go and be loving.

Who is your mentor?

Funny, I’ve had mentors without ever knowing it. And I think that is the key–you don’t know you’re being schooled until you’ve learned the lesson, right? I try to surround myself with and employ people who inspire me: painters, restauranteurs, athletes, designers, bikers, writers, actors, rock n’ rollers and such.

What is best advice you have received in business?

Never enter a business partnership with someone you do not know and/or trust.

If you were not in your current job, what would you secretly love to do?

It’s no secret. I want to run an urban B&B!

What is something people would be surprised to know about you?

I own a gun.

Where is your favorite place to go for dinner?

It’s almost March Madness and we are a NCAA Basketball family. Naturally, Sportstime Pizza across the river is my place right now. The Breadsticks with Beer Cheese have to be my favorite weekly regret.